BallReviews
General Category => Miscellaneous => Topic started by: HamPster on May 02, 2003, 07:28:23 AM
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First adult event tonight was a sad affair. I used 7 pieces of tape, and took out 4 through 3 games. My thumb was against me! I couldn't slide well either, and adding that to a shot that was a tougher shot that I couldn't even fluff it on as well as being a handicap event, everything went wrong. It was three game qualifying, top 16 go to stepladder. I, and another good bowler in the city, both with 3 measly pins of handicap a game (90% of 220) were among the 7 that didn't make it. We'd have easily made it scratch, but it wasn't scratch, so saying that doesn't really make a difference. The good news was that I got 2nd in a bracket (they were scratch) and only ended up losing 30 bucks on the night (20 to enter, 20 to get in four brackets, 10 for my 2nd place). The shot was medium oil, 45 foot pattern, SCREAMING backends. It was flat oil, 2-2, no wall and no recovery outside 6. The best shots were down and in or really deep. I realized that after it was too late. The shot is AWESOME, very rewarding if you make good shots. I've done really well before on that shot, just everything went wrong tonight. Gotta wait 2 weeks for the next one. Disappointing start to my great adult career, but all you doubters have to at least give me credit for being honest about my horrible beginning!
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This post is A+ Hamster certified!
Kung Fu Hamster X, Jujitsu Guinea Pig, or Legend of Drunken Ferret? New names still being pondered . . .
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A new name - How about "Cadaverous Cavy".
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? Did you say what I think you said, or am I just really tired? I knew I should have gotten drunk tonight.
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This post is A+ Hamster certified!
Kung Fu Hamster X, Jujitsu Guinea Pig, or Legend of Drunken Ferret? New names still being pondered . . .
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Hamster,
What you experienced was just more pieces of the bowling and the maturity puzzle. You have the pieces; now you have to learn how to put them together.
(most people never learn to put them together!) You have absolutely nothing to be ashamed of. Handicaps can be nasty events, no matter how much experience you have NOR how old you are.
Hey, guy!
You've made more positive contributions here than most people, NO MATTER WHAT THEIR AGE. Heck, half the people my age (probably old enough to be your grandfather) posting here have not made the common sense AND bowling sense contributions you have, AND you keep your wits and your temper. Keep up the good work! Ballreviews needs more people liek you.
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Yep, in a handicap tournament, it typically takes a 30 pins over average per game pace to land at or near the top of the pack. And, since you were entering with a high average and you hit a tough shot condition, that too worked against you.
Although my house doesn't use a flat oil shot, they don't have any bumpers to play with either, so most bowlers are forced to play more down and in to get the ball consistently to the pocket. If you botch a shot and send it out too wide, you are usually looking at a washout or worse, as the ball just won't make the trip back.
Well, at least you can say that your first adult event was a learning experience.
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So KFH, you got spanked, eh? Well, welcome to the club. I guess I fall into the category that charlest referred to as "most people"--except I always manage to put it together. Unfortunately, it's usually in the car on the way home afterwards, or possibly the next day or during the week sometime. For the only tournament I bowled in this spring I took the plunge and bought a shirt with my name on the back. I'm sure it helped all the other bowlers who wondered who the chump was but didn't want to have to ask.
Shiv
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Welcome to the club. When I started bowling tournaments I was told I would have to pay my dues. Just didn't realize I'd have to pay dues for 40 years.
Still great shooting, especially at West Ridge. Those have to be the slickest lanes in the country.
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Yes, yes I did get spanked. By handicap bowlers. One was 50 years my elder too. Yeah, the shot is kinda tough, but by no means unplayable. I'm going back tonight for "Razzle Dazzle" which is more of just a fun thing with my dad since we can finally do things like this now, but I'm gonna line up for the next time I hit the Shootout, lol. I actually figured out once I got home that I actually should have made the match play, I've just never had to figure handicap, and spaced my pins for series. I added the 3 per game I got, but then forgot to add the 9 to my series. I'd have made it, but probably wouldn't have made it out of the first round, I'd have had to shoot 240-something to win. The female MVP of the Intercollegiate Championships (Kristina Boehm) was there with her 21 pins of handicap per game, and she ended up winning, and that's who I'd have bowled the first round. Oh well, no stopping here!
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This post is A+ Hamster certified!
Kung Fu Hamster X, Jujitsu Guinea Pig, or Legend of Drunken Ferret? New names still being pondered . . .
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When I can get the ball off my hand, YEAH!! I wouldn't have owned a house shot that night. I did better tonight, I played them like I should have the other night. They have a strike pot, and depending on your average, you either have to get 5, 6, or 7 in a row to break it. I had the front 6 the first game, needed the last one. Threw a GREAT shot, and people were already clapping and cheering before the ball hit the backend. Buried the pocket and left the hardest 10 pin of my life. The 60 bucks would have been nice, and even nicer if I'd have strung a few more, 300 would have been about that much money. Switched balls after the second game to test some options for when the lanes started breaking down (they were getting just a tad drier), but I still ended up with a halfway decent set.
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This post is A+ Hamster certified!
Kung Fu Hamster X, Jujitsu Guinea Pig, or Legend of Drunken Ferret? New names still being pondered . . .
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^^^^^ lefties think alike. amen, i like you hamster, but you were sticking? awww poor baby, if you wanna compete with the big boys you better learn to not let little stuff like that bother you. Couldn't get a ball off ur hand cause it was big? Take a napkin, put it on ur thumb and put it in your ball for 5 minutes, garaunteed you will drop your next shot. Also dont ***** about handicap tournaments, get in scratch, if you join handicap get ready to be beat by inferior bowlers, the idea of handicap is to EVEN THE PLAYING FIELD so all bowlers have an equal or close to equal chance. If you wanna be beat by the best, join scratch tournaments. Stop *****ing about little stuff, if you do bad you did bad, i'll tell you right now, your not perfect, you have flaws, and there is NO SUCH THING as a smash corner, you did something wrong, you made an error in the shot, period.
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am i still considered a lefty, i never get to play the left side of the lane
Edited on 5/5/2003 6:10 AM
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Points taken, Leftside, but when things are actually working (getting my hand out of the ball and sliding cleanly) I rarely make bad shots. I'm still working on a good fit in the ball for my hand. The span is fine now, but I have to have a certain amount of reverse and left pitch because I have a nerve on the inside of my thumb that gets pinched if I don't. So I have to grip the ball to hold onto it, because I also need a good deal of bevel as well so I don't have to add so much reverse. Honestly though, that's really all that's wrong. That's really all I need is to get the ball off my hand cleanly and slide cleanly. Everybody makes bad shots, and I'll be the first to say I make my fair share of them, but I wouldn't make nearly as many if I could just get my hand to cooperate. Nearly every shot in my last game last night was just short of awful, the track was drying up, and there was no recovery outside, I was shorting myself and wasn't trusting the ball. I was getting the ball off my hand well and sliding well the first two games, and made a bad shot the first game, and two the second game.
What I meant by sticking as well was that it wasn't just little stick/slide things, it was nearly falling down. It's mostly my fault though, I have a bad habit of hurrying my approach up to get more speed if the ball is hooking early. I usually don't have that much trouble sliding though. I don't know how else I'm supposed to explain it then. Just because I'm young means that I'm making excuses instead of valid observations? I took a bad approach to the shot the other night, and couldn't buy a clean release to save my life. Last night I made a few bad shots through the first two games, and about 7 the last game. Knew where I wanted it, just was trying to force it and was being stupid. Changing balls and lines every shot wasn't helping, but I knew both inside and out, so it shouldn't have been hurting either.
I'd rather bowl scratch events, but there aren't a whole lot of them. I know I'm not perfect, that's why I practice 50 games a week, yelling at myself the whole time. That's also why I stuck around the night of the shootout after all the losers had already gone home to watch what that particular shot does when it starts breaking down, and where the players started moving. That's why I watched the best in the city bowl every single week this year. That's why I'm going to watch a center top ten tournament tonight. That's why I'm joining a sport league this summer for my first ABC league. That's why I listen to Bob Benoit every time he opens his mouth. If I don't push myself, it's not fun. All that is why I only have release problems. Excuses nothing, if I can get my hand out of the ball cleanly, I'm going to hit the shot. I know a bad shot when I make one, I don't patronize myself. I expect myself to be perfect, and when I'm not, I'm not a nice person to be around. One of my friends made the comment to me the other day that I'm over-stressing myself. That particular game I shot 230-something, but made very few great shots. Most of them were decent, but not what I'd wanted. If I'm not competing against the best and beating the best, I don't want to bowl.
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This post is A+ Hamster certified!
Kung Fu Hamster X, Jujitsu Guinea Pig, or Legend of Drunken Ferret? New names still being pondered . . .
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You are over stressing yourself. Perfection is an unobtainable goal, period. You will never average 300, you will never be mistake free, you will almost never bowl with EVERYTHING feeling good, i myself have only done it maybe twice where i felt great, everything fit, and i just felt dang good. The key is to gut thru the little stuff and dont obsess over it, if you can't slide, fine, learn to plant and deal with it. Sliding too much? Learn to stop yourself. Ball feels weird, deal with it, fight thru it. I will tell you now you wont be beating the best for awhile, with you just coming into adults, so if you can't take defeat, you better quit now. You won't learn jack from winning, which is why its a mistake to ever stay in juniors past 18, waste of time, you don't learn anything by dominating. Now losing, noone likes to do that, so we adapt to be sure it doesnt happen no more.
If you have bad habits, fix em, instead of playing for score like we always hear you talking about your 230+ average, work on your MECHANICS, video tape yourself from all angles, analyze, Find key points, concentrate on those. Its easy to gripe about what went wrong or why you didn't score, be a man and fix them, or if you don't feel right, dont make sure to let everyone know, thats just frickin annoying, everyone has days or times they cant slide or knee is bothering them or back or release is messed up. The True test to being a good bowler is if you can, with all those, still compete and dominate. Those people are in the PBA.
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am i still considered a lefty, i never get to play the left side of the lane
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Yup, I hear ya. I can take being beaten, but I can't take losing, if you know what I mean. If my opponent bowls a better game than I did, I can live with that, and respect it, but if I screw myself, I can't tolerate it. I work at pushing through things all the time. I complain too much and do make excuses sometimes too, but it's just my competitiveness. It's not an "If I could just do this, I'd beat you all," it's more of a "WHEN I can do this, I'm competitive." I bowl through injuries, like when my foot was swollen up and I could hardly walk about a month ago, I was limping up to the line trying to work on things. Didn't really work, but nothing is going to stop me from practing.
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This post is A+ Hamster certified!
Kung Fu Hamster X, Jujitsu Guinea Pig, or Legend of Drunken Ferret? New names still being pondered . . .
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My mental game is always fine, the only shot I can focus on is the one I'm about to make, I just fume and scream at myself in between shots. I just can't get my hand to cooperate sometimes. It's wrist strength too, because I notice when I keep my wrist cupped, I keep my thumb straighter in the hole and it's a lot easier to get it off my hand. Thanks though, I took a few days off this last week to rest my hand (25 games the weekend before last in a couple tournaments is a lot of fun) and I don't think I even set foot into the bowling alley, which is a rarity for me. I think my span might be a little too long still, I'll have to mess around with it some more.
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This post is A+ Hamster certified!
Kung Fu Hamster X, Jujitsu Guinea Pig, or Legend of Drunken Ferret? New names still being pondered . . .
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^^^ The best bowler ive ever seen mental wise is a left hander around here, down and in corner guy, great solid form. I saw him leave 10 smash back row pins in a row rangin from 7's to 10's, i told him man id be hittin stuff and cursing up and down about it, he simple replied, why waste the energy? Its not gunna change it. I will tell you now YOU WILL NEVER BE MISTAKE FREE, EVER. Period. Even proffesionals make mistakes, but if you can learn off of them. If/when i see you beating yourself up over a bad shot in matchplay, all i know i have to do is start stringing and your done, because you then start squeezing, which makes it even harder for you to make agood shot. Think calm, be calm, its a game, remember that always.If you do bad make some mistakes, learn from them dangit, or else the mistake is worth nothing.
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am i still considered a lefty, i never get to play the left side of the lane
Edited on 5/5/2003 4:03 PM
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quote:
My mental game is always fine, the only shot I can focus on is the one I'm about to make, I just fume and scream at myself in between shots.
You can't do that. You have to let it go, else it sticks with you. If you let yourself "fume and scream" between shots, then you are not focusing on the one you are about to get up and make. The bad shot is gone...nothing you can do will bring it back. All you can do is figure out what went wrong and then move on...anything else is (as others noted) wasted energy.
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I can see what you mean, but for the most part, I think being hard on myself has done me good. I really would like to see what it's like to throw a bad shot and not be upset with it. This rabid perfectionism of mine doesn't allow me to tolerate mistakes. I make a bad shot, and yeah I get hacked off, but when I get up to the line next time, I usually say something to myself like, "Alright idiot, once is enough for this game, make the shot." BUT, sometimes, as some have rightly pointed out to me, I was trying too hard to make perfect shots instead of good ones. That's the key thing I need to keep in mind. That's my greatest flaw, overthinking. Irritation for me stems for a lot of things in my shot. I'll over focus on one thing, and drop another one. I'll keep my wrist cupped one shot, but hurry to the line. Next shot I'll let my wrist fall, and in trying to pull it up at the line, I'll stick because I'm concentrating too hard on my approach.
However, if I don't pressure myself, if I relax, I ALWAYS throw a soft ball with too low speed, too low revs, and ultimately a very weak shot. I need to start a routine where I have little "reminders" to help me keep everything in mind in my shot. I wear small rubber bands on my fingers, one is to remind me not to try to impress people, and the other is to keep my mouth shut. As for relaxing, I can't even go outside and shoot a basketball around without eventually being upset because I'm missing shots here and there. I've developed a pretty nasty temper because of certain negativities during my horrible teenage years, and can't seem to keep it from affecting unrelated things. Lol, I'm not looking for a personal counselor, but if anybody can hypnotize me into keeping calm after a bad shot, I'll be your biggest fan.
Lefty, I use the anger between shots as fuel. Usually the shot after I make a bad one is my best of the game. I just have to keep myself from falling into the trap of trying to make perfect shots. Trying to do that screws me up worse than relaxing. Staying smooth and focusing are the best two things I can tell myself. I'm all about improving my game, and I welcome and thank you all for the input you give me, negative and positive. I get defensive sometimes, but I don't believe I've ever received bad advice from any of you. I know it sounds like I disregard a lot of it as well, but lol, it eventually sinks in. It's like I'm trying to find the "perfect" thing in every word, if it doesn't describe my flaws perfectly, and fill the hole perfectly, I'm going to keep looking. I know I have the drive and the intensity to be a great bowler, I just need to quit being an idiot, pay more attention, and keep from getting over excited. I freakin LOVE the sport, and people can't understand it. They'll bowl a tournament one weekend, and then say they want to relax for a few days afterwards. Not me, I'm at the alley the next day working on everything I did wrong in the tournament, no matter how I finished. Unless I'm on crutches or in a cast, I'm going to practice. Lol, done for another longwinded post.
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This post is A+ Hamster certified!
Kung Fu Hamster X, Jujitsu Guinea Pig, or Legend of Drunken Ferret? New names still being pondered . . .
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hamster until your able to cool down and realize bad shots and mistakes will happen and no amount of being angry or upset or disgusted will change it, is when you will turn the corner. You cannot concentrate on 3,000 things plus sit there and say ok make a good shot dummy, you overwhelm your mind. You have some natural ability, use it, if you can't cup the ball then get lighter equipment or work out, there is no reason to have trouble with it. If you have to concentrate on too many things to throw a good shot then your game is too complex, change it and go back to basics, your form should be short, simple, and to the point. I used to have a huge armswing, open way up, big knee bend and just tear the cover off the ball, until i realized how hard it is to repeat shots doing that, and after losing money i realized i had to change so i backed off on my revs some and speed, i still have a high backswing but its straight.
And as for anger fueling yourself, im a college pitcher, and in a sport like that which requires aggression and just raw strength, anger can work. But with bowling, NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO. Because what you set yourself up for is either more anger if you make a bad shot then a good shot and get a bad leave, and your match is just carrying everything. This is why you dont see pro's looking at what the other guy shot. If you watch PBA listen about Chris Barnes and how he changed because he did what you did, used anger to fuel a desire to win. The best approach is calm, consistant, and confident but not cocky. I hate bowling guys in matches who no matter what they do just show little or no emotion, you can't touch em, they will throw an 80 or 280 and it makes no difference on their appearance. I would rather a guy try to run out shots and make me look bad, because what happens is it gets adrenaline going more and more which means their going to throw the ball harder and harder and harder and more likely to leave stupid stuff or make a bad shot. Your physical game sounds fine, except perhaps a change to lighter equipment or a wrist band or something if you cant consistantly cup the ball, but your mental game needs a crapload of work if you plan on competing every time out in amateur tournaments.
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am i still considered a lefty, i never get to play the left side of the lane